Month: March 2016

Have you ever went to a quilt show or viewed some of your friends quilts and wondered why their quilt looked better, flatter and squarer than yours?

Look at your quilt top; is there tucks, gatherings or folds? That is the greatest indication that your quilt is not square. You did not square as you went while creating the blocks and then you did not check to see if your blocks where square before placing them together in your quilt.

I teach all my students to square as they go, which means that when you make a unit such as a half square triangle, flying goose or four patch you press that unit and then square it to size. It is well known that as you sew and press you are also stretching. Yes it takes a little extra time to square as you go but the end result is what you are after. I recommend the rulers that I have designed for this process, as they will give you the best result in the least amount of time. The “Square-Up Ruler/Template”, “Square-Up 2 Ruler/Template” and the “Rectangle-Up” are the best for square as you go quilting and then you end up with a good ¼ inch seam allowance all the way around your block.

You may say, “But I just enjoy the sewing part”, that’s o.k. But it you decide not to square up then please remember that your machine quilter did not put those tucks and gathers in your quilt and they were something that you added.

Every quilt can look as good as a Quilt Festival Quilt Show quilt if the piecers would just take a few extra minutes to square up.